Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 24, 1993                   TAG: 9310240108
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

WILDER'S CHIEF OF STAFF TO QUIT STATE GOVERNMENT

A 26-year veteran of state government and longtime Wilder ally, Shropshire, 47, has been Wilder's senior aide since the inauguration. A consummate Richmond insider whose knowledge of Virginia politics and its intrigue is unparalleled, Shropshire was known as Wilder's "secretary of revenge."

"My goal in every position I've held has been the betterment of government for the commonwealth and all Virginia," Shropshire said in a letter of resignation he gave Wilder over breakfast Saturday morning.

He will leave Nov. 22, about two months before the end of Wilder's term.

"I started to make it Nov. 1, but you know my thing for the Kennedys, so I made it the twenty-second," said Shropshire of choosing the 30th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

Shropshire said he will set up shop as a consultant and lobby "on the local, state and federal level. I'm also looking into some business ventures that have nothing to do with government." He said he will not discuss employment or lobbying with any specific employers until after he leaves.

Shropshire said his conversation with Wilder on Saturday morning was pleasant.

Shropshire was instrumental in winning an endorsement for Wilder's 1985 run for lieutenant governor from the late House Speaker A.L. Philpott of Bassett. Wilder has Shropshire called the endorsement from Philpott, an old-style Southside Democrat, a turning point in that contest.

Despite a friendship and political alliance that went back more than 20 years to Wilder's early days in the Virginia Senate, the two had a stormy relationship over the past four years.

Soon after he abandoned his presidential bid in 1992, Wilder stripped Shropshire of many of his daily responsibilities, but Shropshire remained in the top appointed post in state government with an office separated from Wilder's only by a secretary.

Shropshire was fond of telling reporters who asked about sour relations with Wilder, "I've been working in this building longer than anyone else, and I'll be here after most of them are gone."

But he said Saturday he does not expect to return to state government.

A native of Ridgeway, near Martinsville, Shropshire came to Richmond in 1967 as a committee clerk in the House of Delegates, a protege of Philpott. He earned a reputation for a willingness to do favors for members and develop their confidences. He was installed as clerk of the Senate in 1975 and retained the post until 1990.

From 1982 to 1990, Shropshire was chairman of the State Compensation Board, which oversees the budgets and salaries of courthouse officials, a job that expanded his statewide power base and knowledge.

Shropshire's closeness to Wilder and Philpott, his networking among legislators and an envied relationship with Capitol reporters made him one of the most influential figures in Richmond.

G.C. Morse, an editorial writer for several Virginia newspapers and speech writer for former Gov. Gerald Baliles, once said of Shropshire, "People who can use personalities . . . it's a great gift, and Jay has that. Politics would be a lot less interesting without people like Jay Shropshire."